The Carnival Job
by Amusementality
Summary: The Leverage team heads to Arkansas to stop the exploitation of people by a greedy carnival manager. Leverage like drama and humor ensues.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Leverage. This story is completely imagined. Do not take anything I state as fact in the story as actual fact in real life. I hope you enjoy!

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**The Carnival Job - Chapter 1**

Sophie, Hardison, and Eliot shuffled into the Leverage headquarters late one night after being abruptly told by Nate that there was going to be a meeting to discuss his newest client. Nate stood already prepared in front of the television screens as they walked in, waiting for the three to settle into their seats. Hardison and Sophie quickly did so seemingly unaffected by the late night call, while Eliot stomped about in one of his usual bad moods.

"What's with this late night meeting?" Eliot complained. "Can't we have even the smallest of breaks?"

Nate sighed. The hitter was not letting up on the argument that they needed to be given a vacation. "Look," Nate tried to explain, "I just think that it would be best if we get started as soon as possible on this job. Now can I please begin the briefing?"

Eliot eventually complied and with one last growl of annoyance sat down in between Hardison and Sophie.

"Okay," Nate said clapping his hands together, glad that he now had everyone's attention for the issue at hand. "Our client is-"

"Where's Parker?" Hardison suddenly interrupted as he looked around the room.

"Yeah you're right, where is she?" Sophie and Eliot both agreed as they realized her absence as well.

Nate sighed again, having lost the direction of the conversation. "Parker said she wouldn't be able to make it tonight. She said she was busy."

"Busy?" Eliot questioned. "What could she possibly be doing? It's not like she has any social life outside of us. And why does she get the night off anyway? I've been asking for a break since-"

"Hey man chill," Hardison butted into Eliot's rant. "It's one night, not some ten day vacation."

"Look man," Eliot began, his voice starting to show his anger from before, "every day I go out there and get kicked and punched. All I'm asking for is a little break, if not from the punching than from your nagging voice as you sit at your little keyboard relaxing!"

"Relaxing? You can't even imagine how much work I put in for every job. I've had to save your redneck ass so many times that-"

"Alright, alright!" Nate shouted, cutting off the argument between Hardison and Eliot.

"Nate," Sophie finally spoke up, "you do know that the Emerson Art Exhibit is in town, don't you?"

"Yes, I know Sophie." Nate said a little impatiently.

Sophie just smiled. "Priceless paintings, eloquent statues, shimmering jewelry, all of it locked up in an overly secure building, and there is no Parker to be found. That's quite a coincidence." Eliot and Hardison began to smile along with Sophie after her statement.

"Parker promised that she wasn't stealing anything, okay. Now can we all get back to why we are here in the first place?" Nate replied while rubbing his forehead in frustration.

Everyone gave a little nod and Nate began his briefing over again.

"Our client is David Summers, brother of late Jonathan Summers. Now Jonathan died two weeks ago, and David is blaming this man here, Ethan Hubert, for his death. However, the main problem in David's argument and the reason why he won't win any court case is that Jonathan wasn't murdered. He committed suicide."

Eliot frowned at the dilemma. "Suicide? Then who is this Ethan guy? Are we supposed to give payback to everyone who ever gave this Jonathan kid a hard time?"

"No, it's not like that," Nate responded. "Ethan Hubert was Jonathan's employer. He is the owner and manager of a popular town carnival in Arkansas. But this isn't your average carnival. It's not really a carnival at all when you think about it, that's just a cover for what he is doing in the background."

"And what's that?" Hardison asked.

"Ethan holds a big unofficial 'side' show that has become very popular," Nate explained. "He puts it under the name of a carnival so he doesn't draw any attention for persecution."

"What do you mean by 'side' show?" Hardison asked again.

"A side show," Nate replied, "is just a nicer way of saying freak show. He gathers lots of people with deformities, abnormalities, and unique abilities who are usually desperate for work and offers them a job with terrible pay and contracts that last for years. He gets to make big bucks off visitors and his employees are stuck in a crappy job with nowhere else to go."

"That kind of thing just makes me sick," Sophie said crossing her arms with a look of disgust on her face. "Having people put up on display so that they can be stared at and ridiculed is just cruel and inhumane."

"And I thought it was illegal too," Eliot added.

"Only is some states," Nate explained, "and Arkansas isn't one of them. However, Ethan still tries to keep its existence hidden from state officials because he doesn't want to give fuel to having the laws changed."

"So where does Jonathan fit into all of this?" Hardison inquired.

"Well Jonathan was one of Ethan's employees," Nate answered. "David explained to me how his brother was born with albinism and how all the teasing he got growing up really affected his self-esteem and confidence. Three years ago Jonathan signed a contract with Ethan even though his brother pleaded him not to. David said over those three years Jonathan's view of himself plummeted even further until he committed suicide just two weeks ago."

"Wow, that's awful," Sophie sighed.

"Yeah, I agree with David. That bastard Ethan needs to be held accountable," Eliot concluded.

"For sure," Hardison stated loudly.

"Okay guys," Nate announced, ready to conclude the meeting, "we have all the background information down now, so we can get started bright and early tomorrow on how we are going to run the scam. I'll see you then."


	2. Chapter 2

**The Carnival Job - ****Chapter 2**

"Now Sophie isn't here either? Why do only the women of the team get to take breaks whenever they want to," Eliot grumbled after seeing that only he, Hardison, and Nate had showed up on time to the morning meeting.

"They are probably just running late," Nate said in a tired voice. Eliot's complaining was starting to wear on him. "Lets go ahead and start without them."

Yo Nate," Hardison called from behind his laptop. He seemed to have perked up a lot more since finishing his first can of orange soda for the day. "I still don't see how we are going to take this guy down when what he is doing is perfectly legal."

One of Nate's all-knowing smirks appeared on his face. "Then we make what he is doing illegal, and we also prove that he was the main cause of Jonathan's death."

"And how are we going to do that?" Eliot remarked in a skeptical tone.

"Arkansas just elected a new governor," Nate answered. "This woman will want to make a name for herself and look good in front of the public. Sophie will convince her that condemning these freak shows is the best way to do that."

"And proving that Ethan Hubert contributed to Jonathan's death?" Eliot continued to question.

"That part will be more difficult," Nate said while leaning up against the counter.

"Like changing legislation isn't already difficult enough," Hardison side-remarked as he furiously typed on his computer trying to gather all the information Sophie would need to manipulate the Arkansas governor. "You people seriously don't appreciate what I do."

Eliot just rolled his eyes and looked at Nate to continue what he was saying.

"Well," Nate continued, "we have to gather concrete evidence that working for Ethan causes serious mental harm and that he has always been aware of this. The only way I can see accomplishing this is to have someone on the inside. Which means having him hire one of us for the side show."

"You mean have one of us be the freak?" Hardison asked to clarify.

"I vote Hardison," Eliot proclaimed. "Just show them your little doll collection man and they'll let you right in." Eliot's smile broadened when he saw Hardison's annoyed expression.

"I already went over this with you man," Hardison shouted. "They are mint condition action figures! There is nothing weird about them. If they want someone weird maybe you should go. You can be called 'The Most Feminine Haired Man'."

Eliot stood up with his fists clenched at that remark, but his comeback was cut short by the loud opening of the front door and the well known click-clack sound of Sophie's heels. As she rounded the corner towards the table with a newspaper in hand, Sophie had a smile on that just radiated 'I told you so'.

"Why are you late?" Nate said in a voice he was trying to make sound irritated. He really wanted to avoid the inevitable release of whatever information that made Sophie smile at him like that.

"O, am I late?" Sophie asked in a coy manner. "Why, I must have lost track of time when reading the newspaper. Haven't you all read the newspaper yet?" When all three men shook their head Sophie seemed to completely burst with the pleasure of knowing something they didn't. "O my!" Sophie continued, keeping with her suave demeanor as she stepped closer to the table. "I thought you three of all people would have been the first to hear. I can't believe-"

"Just tell us what the damn newspaper says Sophie!" Eliot spat, obviously having enough of her overzealous acting.

Sophie frowned and gave out an exasperated breath after having her stage time cut short by Eliot. "Read for yourself," she said as she threw the newspaper onto the table. A smile returning to her face as she realized the 'I told you so' moment was still to come.

Hardison had the quickest fingers and grabbed the newspaper before the other two. An astonished expression appeared on his face after only looking at the picture of the article.

Nate began to get out a bottle of whiskey for whatever he was about to hear. "Read it, Hardison."

"Alright, it says:"

_The Emerson Art Exhibit had a big surprise this morning when they opened their doors. According to eye-witnesses from before police shut down the area for public viewing, many pieces in the art exhibit appeared to have been drastically moved and rearranged during the night. The scene of the crime now can only be described as chaotic. Exhibit officials have refused to give any statements about the break-in or answer any questions about the effectiveness of their so called "invincible" security system. The only police reports released so far state that nothing was actually stolen. One worker at the art exhibit describes the whole situation as "completely unbelievable and sheer wackiness." It seems that whoever got into the Emerson Exhibit last night, just wanted to make the art smile. _

Hardison chuckled at the last sentence. "You see that's funny 'cause the picture of the rearranged art makes a smiley face."

Hardison held up the picture so that Nate and Eliot could see it, and sure enough, there was a smiley face looking back at them. Three paintings were used as the eyes and nose, six differently heighted statues formed the mouth, and it looked like some priceless jewelry hung around the necks of the statues for a reason none of them could think of.

"I told you so," Sophie proclaimed confidently.

Nate just rubbed his head, completely dumbfounded, eventually giving a slight nod towards Sophie in agreement that she did indeed tell him so.

"There's something seriously wrong with Parker," Eliot grumbled to himself.

"This is pretty amazing man," Hardison announced. "I mean exhibits like this are crazy in love with the rotating laser trip beams. Parker must have had to do some serious acrobatics. Hell man, I would have paid to watch her pull this off."

Nate smiled and laughed to himself at Hardison's last comment. "And that is exactly what's going to happen."

Sophie, Hardison, and Eliot all stared confused at Nate until a voice from the kitchen asked exactly what they were all thinking.

"I don't get it. What's going to happen?"

Parker stood behind the kitchen counter with a bowl and box of cereal already in front of her. She stared at the group with a look of a complete innocence, and when they speechlessly stared back without answering her question, she took the liberty to noisily pour her bowl of cereal.

Nate let out a long breath, as if to let go of everything insanely unbelievable Parker had just done, from redesigning an art exhibit to magically appearing in the kitchen. He had come to figure that it was the only thing he could do if he wanted his sanity to remain intact.

"Okay people," Nate announced, ready to get back on track, "if you haven't all forgotten, we still have a job to do. Sophie, Hardison will fill you in on the governor. Parker, you are going to be our inside man. And Eliot, you're going to be doing some snooping for me. Now can we all please stay focused."


	3. Chapter 3

**The Carnival Job - Chapter 3**

Nate relished in the rare silence that had overcome the Leverage headquarters. As he observed his team, he was glad to see that they had finally listened to him and gotten focused. Hardison was updating Sophie on all the information she could use to sway the governor. Eliot was reviewing the aliases Hardison had just printed up. And Parker... was just sitting awkwardly in her seat, having not attended the previous meeting and having finished off her second bowl of cereal.

Nate decided to give her something to do. "Parker, how about we practice your character for this job."

Parker gave him a semi enthusiastic nod in response. Not sure if she should be happy because she had something to do or worried because that something was acting.

"Your character has two tasks in this job Parker," Nate began. "One, getting hired by Ethan, which shouldn't be a problem with you being so... nimble. And two, getting proof that working for him causes mental harm. Now to do this, you pretty much just have to wait for the evidence to come to you, but most importantly, you have to blend in with the other employees."

"That shouldn't be very hard for her," Eliot murmured, chuckling after his own remark.

Overhearing Eliot's comment, Parker looked around the room confused but also interested in why she would be able to fit in so well with the other people. "Who are the other employees," she eventually asked.

"Th-They're, ahhhh..." Nate was reluctant to tell Parker that she was to be a member of a freak show, thinking there might be a chance her feeling could be hurt. "Your character isn't very hard Parker, you'll be fine," Nate replied, completely avoiding the previous question.

"Your name is Clara Burton," Hardison came in, saving Nate from going into one of his famous incomprehensible rambling fits. "You are extremely gifted in acrobatics, balancing, and whatnot. In your previous job you worked for someone similar to Ethan Hubert, but now that you have moved to Arkansas, you are desperate for work."

"Wait," Sophie interrupted, "why is she desperate for work? It's not like Parker has any deformities or anything. Why can't she just get a normal job instead of taking Ethan's crappy one?"

"Well... that's because... ummm..." Hardison shifted uncomfortably in his seat, staring at his keyboard as if the answer was secretly encoded in the letters.

"Because Clara is too socially awkward to keep a regular job," Nate finished for him.

Sophie, Eliot, and Hardison all turned to Nate and eventually nodded, deciding that it was a good enough explanation for them.

"I don't know," Parker finally spoke up. "This is a lot to remember. I'm not sure if I can be very convincing as this character." She looked at the others with a completely serious face that portrayed honest-to-god worry.

At that comment, Eliot pulled a full on face-palm maneuver. Hardison just stared, mouth agape. Nate, for the second time that day, rubbed his head with a dumbfounded look plastered on his face. And Sophie seemed to be trying to mouth some sort of words towards Parker, but they were unable to make it past her astonished expression.

After a few more moments of silence, Nate let out another long breath. "Alright, I think that's enough for one day. Lets clean up this mess," Nate said, motioning towards all the cluttered papers on the table, "then you can all pack your bags. We'll be flying out to Arkansas tomorrow."

Nate then headed straight upstairs with a glass and bottle of whiskey in hand. With the look on his face, nobody even tried to hassle him. Sophie was the next to quickly leave, claiming that there was a pair of heels she couldn't dare let land in the hands of anyone else. This left Hardison, Parker, and Eliot with cleaning up the mess.

"This is just unfair," Hardison complained, pretending to say it under his breath when he really wanted everyone in the room to hear. "I get more than half the work done at every meeting and I'm stuck doing this chore. Sometimes I feel so underappreciated that-"

"You're really asking for it Hardison," Eliot threatened, daring him to continue with what he was saying.

Hardison gave Eliot an aggravated glare at being threatened, but decided against continuing after calculating the chance that Eliot would actually follow through with it. A grin then appeared on his face as he thought of another way to entertain himself.

"So Parker," Hardison began, playing dumb, "what were you up to last night?"

"Nothing much," Parker replied in a casual tone, though her whole presence seemed to brighten at the remembrance of it.

"I thought you were busy?" Eliot aggressively asked, wanting to catch Parker in her lie.

Parker's head shot up in surprise, quickly remembering the alibi she had told the team. "Yes, busy! Of course I was busy. Why wouldn't I be busy? I was busy. Very, very, very... busy."

"Doing what exactly?" Eliot questioned with a smug smirk on his face, thinking he had cornered her into telling the truth.

"You know," Parker replied, making awkward hand motions that she somehow thought would help convince Eliot, "stuff... that busy people... do."

When Eliot raised his eyebrows as if to say he wasn't buying it, Parker decided to take a new approach.

"Come on, Eliot!" Parker shouted in fake and over-the-top exasperation. "I thought you knew these kinds of things. Do I have to spell it out for you?" And with that, she rushed out of the apartment so quickly that it would have been impossible to ask another question.

Hardison began busting up laughing at Eliot's confused expression.

Eliot just stood still staring at the closed door, trying to think at what point in time his interrogation had turned into him being called an idiot. When Hardison's giggles finally reached his ears he turned and gave him a death glare.

"Just shut up man!" Eliot growled.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Carnival Job - Chapter 4**

"Do you think Hardison is part robot?" Parker whispered to Sophie has they exited the Arkansas airport.

Normally Sophie would have just dismissed this as another one of Parker's strange questions, but it had been a very long and weird travel day, so she decided to humor Parker and responded, "I don't know, maybe."

As the team loaded into the bus that would drive them to their rental car station, Sophie began recollecting the day. Beginning with the memory of being teased by everyone because of her luggage.

"I try to be a gentleman Sophie, but I am not lugging around those rectangular boulders for you," Nate stated after seeing the massive size of her two suitcases, thinking that if Parker wasn't already visibly in the room, there was a possibility she could be packed away inside one of them.

"A grifter must always be prepared," Sophie said in her defense.

Hardison chuckled. "Well it looks like you've prepared each of our wardrobes two times over in those things."

"It'll be a good thing if she did Hardison," Eliot proclaimed, wanting to get back at Hardison for the day before. "Because what you're wearing right now looks ridiculous."

"Hey man, I'll have you know that scarves are very much in style," Hardison replied with great certainty.

"Yeah, for women." Eliot countered, grinning when he saw he had finally struck a chord.

"Yeah well..." Hardison angrily stammered, trying to come up with a clever rebuttal, "at least I don't wear guy-liner or walk around like 'look at me, I'm a cowboy.' "

"O, I'll show you cowboy," Eliot threatened while cracking his knuckles.

If given a second chance, Sophie thought Hardison would have probably chosen his words a lot differently. The entire scene ended with Eliot trapping him in a head lock while he frantically claimed to have some made-up health condition that prevented him from being under any physical strain. Nate was eventually able to break it up, appearing very embarrassed at the huge ruckus the two were causing in the ticket line.

It seemed that even if you were the best con group in Boston, there was still no way to make airport security move any faster, especially when the people you are with are the ones causing the delay.

Hardison caused the most holdup trying to get through the metal detector. Each time walking through it, he would find another new technological device or computer part hidden in his clothes that he had forgotten to remove. By the time he finally got the green light, there was a bin overflowing with all sorts of miscellaneous metal gadgets. Sophie could hardly believe that so much stuff could fit onto one person.

Eliot, on the other hand, easily made it though the metal detector, but was immediately pulled aside for a 'random' security check. The guard that was awarded the task to scan him over was visibly shaking at the fierce look Eliot was giving him. Later, Sophie decided to explain to Eliot that if he stopped appearing so overly hostile, he probably wouldn't be pulled over for random screenings. He just gave her an irritated grumble in response to what she thought was useful advice.

While Nate and Sophie waited for the boys to get through the security process, trying to pretend not to hear the auditable complaints from people further back in the line, Parker was meticulously describing to them the many ways they could have easily bypassed security altogether. From what Sophie could remember, most of her plans involved air ducts, repelling gear, and the risk of being shot.

The next memory that came to Sophie was from when the team was sitting and waiting in the main terminal for their plane to arrive. Sophie remembered watching as Parker walked up to everyone carrying an enormous amount of sugary snacks.

"Did you buy those?" Nate inquired.

"They were free," Parker responded, dropping all the treats into the unsuspecting lap of Hardison.

Nate frowned. "Parker, I don't think they were free."

"Yes they were," Parker replied confidently."They are like all those pamphlets that tell you what to do on vacation. Hardison took a whole bunch because they were free."

"Parker, that's different. These snacks are not free." Nate stated.

"Nate," Parker began, talking in a voice as if tired of trying to explain something completely obvious, "if something is laying out in the open, is not being watched, and is small enough to fit in your jacket; it's free." She said all this while ripping open a snickers and taking a big bite out of it.

The speakers then came on announcing that their flight was ready for boarding. Nate just sighed and decided that it would probably be best if he let this one theft go.

The flight went smoothly and the whole team got to sit in first class. Sophie sat next to Nate, Hardison and Parker sat together across from them, and Eliot sat by himself one seat forward.

Sophie was a little irritated that Nate had left her with no one to talk to the entire trip, having quickly fallen into a deep sleep after downing his first glass of liquor. Eliot was busy taking up her advice from before by being overly friendly with the tall blonde flight attendant. And Hardison was intently watching a science fiction movie on his laptop with Parker.

From what she could tell, the movie was about a group of cybertronic people bent on taking over the world. Now that she was thinking about it, the combination of this movie and Hardison's trouble with the metal detector was what probably prompted Parker's strange question from before.

The sudden jerk of the bus as it stopped knocked Sophie out of her thoughts.

The team finally reached their rental car after taking several minutes to find it in the dark. Nate headed to the driver's seat and Sophie to the passenger's.

"I call window seat," Parker announced, tired of always being stuck in the middle.

"Me too," Eliot quickly stated after Parker.

Hardison looked around in frustration, "nah man, I can't be middle. I need my space, or else I can't breathe."

"Is that a side effect of your hypergeekiotosis from before?" Eliot chuckled, reminding Hardison of what happened last time he messed with him. "How 'bout you just get in the middle there, Astroboy."

Parker looked at Eliot in excitement, "so you think so too?"

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Author's Note: I know I need to start making some actual plot advancement. I just enjoy dialogue and the imagining of what goes on in the down time of Leverage. I'm going to be taking a little break, but when I come back I'll give you some more action and plot. Thanks for reading.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Carnival Job - Chapter 5**

Nate, Hardison, and Parker sat inside the hotel suite the team had turned into a makeshift headquarters. Today was the first day on the con, and the three were in the background overlooking the interaction with the governor that was about to take place.

"Alright, it's show time." Nate announced, cuing for the con to start.

Sophie and Eliot walked up to the receptionist desk of Governor Julie McKenzie's office. Sophie was dressed up in an outfit that was both formal and stunningly fashionable. Eliot wore a suit, his wire-brimmed glasses, and had his hair pulled back.

"We're here for the governor's eleven o'clock appointment," Sophie said.

The secretary quickly double-checked their identity and nodded them towards the open office door.

When Eliot and Sophie walked in the room, they saw the governor seated in an already cluttered desk brooding over a thick packet of legal papers. Sophie had to give a light cough to make their presence known, startling the governor from her work.

"O, ummm... you must be..." the governor said while stumbling through her organizer for their names.

"Rebecca Conwell," Sophie replied for the governor, "and this is my assistant Donald Miller. It's a pleasure to meet you Governor McKenzie. May I call you Julie?"

"Ahhh, yes, you may." McKenzie responded, finally becoming more composed. "So, what is it I can do for you?"

Sophie looked at Eliot and gave a light laugh, she then turned back to Governor McKenzie. "The question is not what you can do for us. It's what we can do for you. You see Julie, I'm looking to be your new political advisor."

McKenzie just smiled and shook her head. "I'm sorry Ms. Conwell-"

"Please, call me Rebecca," Sophie interjected.

"Well Rebecca," McKenzie began, "I'm sorry to say that I already have a political advisor."

"Not a very good one," Sophie stated. "Having you toil over such legal trifles," Sophie motioned to the governor's cluttered desk, "what a waste. Now is the time to be making solid steps towards reelection."

Governor McKenzie looked more interested after hearing this. Sophie was correct in guessing she had become tired of all the heavy legal readings.

"I'm surprised you haven't already heard of me," Sophie continued, "I was the political advisor for Bob Hillman, the governor of Missouri. He won his reelection in a landslide last year, and I assure you it wasn't because of great policy or leadership."

_"And this would be more convincing if Eliot hadn't forgotten to bring the newspaper article I worked all night on to make," Hardison said over the coms._

_"Hardison, stop being a distraction," Nate spoke up._

_"P-Parker, would you get that magnet out of my face!" Hardison announced in a distraught manner. "I'm not a refrigerator woman. What's gotten into you?" Muffled sounds of Hardison trying unsuccessfully to tear the object from Parker's quick fingers came through the coms. _

"Did you know," Eliot came in, trying to ignore the voices in his head, "that fifty-five percent of voters stop paying attention to their elected officials after the first two months in office."

Governor McKenzie seemed a little surprised to hear this statistic.

"And that's exactly why you need to make the right moves now," Sophie explained.

McKenzie still seemed somewhat skeptical. "I see what you're getting at, but it can't be done. It's impossible to pass memorable policy in only two months."

Sophie smiled at this remark. "Well that's exactly why you need us Governor McKenzie. We've done it before, and we can do it for you. So what do you say? Are you going to let us guarantee you another term in office?"

Governor McKenzie deliberated over the question for a while. "Alright," she eventually said, "I'll hire you. I can't see what harm can come from it."

_"Okay, she's hooked," Nate came in. "Nice job Sophie and Eliot. Now make arrangements for a meeting another day. We need to give her time to mull over the idea of a guaranteed second term so she'll be more willing to follow whatever advice you give her."_

"Good," Sophie responded, "I'm glad you have agreed to our services. However, I think this is enough shared for one day. Don't you think Donald?" Sophie looked to Eliot and he gave a nod. "How about we arrange for another meeting to continue this discussion, tomorrow perhaps?"

"Yes, of course," McKenzie replied, sounding a little unhappy at not being able to hear the political scheme immediately. "Tomorrow will be fine, I'll inform my secretary."

Sophie and Eliot then bid their farewells and drove back to the hotel. When they entered the suite, they saw Nate sitting in a chair reading while Hardison and Parker were in a heated conversation.

"Parker, it was just a movie," Hardison explained. "I'm not a robot."

"That's exactly what a robot would say," Parker countered.

Hardison rubbed his head in frustration. He then looked at Sophie and Eliot in desperation as they walked in the room. "Could one of you talk some sense into this girl?"

"Hey man, I agree with Parker," Eliot replied, always taking the chance to give Hardison a hard time, "there must be a reason why you don't realize how annoying your computer blabber is." Eliot felt a little weird saying he agreed with the eccentric thief, but he decided it was worth it to frustrate the hacker even more.

Hardison gave Eliot an angry glare and then turned to Sophie with a look as if she was his last hope.

"Parker, Hardison is not a robot." Sophie said, being clear and straight to the point.

After hearing that, Parker gave Hardison one last look of suspicion and then excepted what Sophie had said as truth.

Hardison looked at Parker in disbelief. "Really? That's all it took? Woman, I already told you that. How come you believe Sophie and not me?"

Parker just shrugged. "Sophie is always right about people."

"Alright everyone," Nate announced, having put down his book, "we still have a whole day of work to do. Parker, you and me are up next. Lets head to the carnival."

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Author's Note: That break was a little longer than I had planned. I'm easily distracted into doing other things. Anyways! I'm back now and here's a plot moving chapter for you.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Carnival Job - Chapter 6**

Ethan Hubert's carnival was located off the main road. It was set up in a mowed-down meadow surrounded by forest. One had to drive through the trees on a dirt path just to be able to see the place. Nate guessed that only the locals knew about the carnival and they spread its whereabouts by word of mouth to enthusiasts.

After pulling into a mostly empty parking lot, Nate and Parker hopped out of the car. The carnival consisted of many differently sized and colorful tents. There was one big tent in the center, which Nate thought was probably used for the main performance, with lots of smaller tents surrounding it for unique, individual shows.

_"Okay guys," Hardison came in, "I just hacked the security camera feed. I got you two and the entire area on my screen. It seems the carnival doesn't start till evening, which explains the lack of people."_

_"For a carnival, there sure is a lot of security," Sophie added._

_"Nate," Eliot began, "we just saw someone walk into the large tent. It might be Ethan, so you should head there first."_

"Alright," Nate replied.

The size and height of the main tent seemed much more grand once inside. Stands for people to sit flanked the entire right side while a huge ring for the performance was on the left. Nate and Parker looked around for someone to talk to, both ready to get the scam started.

Nate wore his trademark tacky suit, the color for today being powder blue. Parker wore her usual black and slim fitting attire that she used when braking into banks.

"What are you doing here?" A voice asked from behind them.

They both quickly turned around to find a tall, bulky man giving them a questioning stare. He wore an outfit one might expect to see on a music conductor, but in an awful mustard yellow color.

"Great, we found someone!" Nate said in excitement, giving Parker a victory shoulder pat. "We are here looking for a job, good sir. Can you direct us to whom we might talk to about that?"

The man kept his suspicious glare, but answered their question. "Well that would be me you're looking for. I'm Ethan Hubert, the manager of this carnival."

"Isn't that a wonderful coincidence," Nate replied while smiling. "O, and I almost forgot to introduce myself! I'm Dr. Oliver Molenstein-"

"You're a doctor?" Ethan questioned skeptically, looking at Nate's outfit.

"Well no," Nate chuckled, "but it sounds nice, and who really checks up on that kind of stuff anyways. So as I was saying, I'm Dr. Oliver Molenstein and this is Clara Burton."

"You're looking for a job?" Ethan replied, more as a statement than a question.

"Yes sir," Nate said loudly. "You see Ethan, I'm a man not much different from yourself. Had a business like this up north in Missouri. But the damn government got its hands all over it, questions about morality and whatnot. Bunch of bull if you ask me. I get my livelihood stripped right out from under me, so what do you think I do? I'll tell you what I do. I grab my star girl Clara and head down to Arkansas. I've heard of you Ethan, and I was thinking we could team up. It would save me the hassle of restarting my business from scratch and you would get to have Clara here as one of your performers. Great deal, right?"

Ethan just shook his head. "I'm sorry Mr.-"

"Dr." Nate interjected.

"Whatever," Ethan said more irritably, "I ain't good with sharing and my show is doing just fine as it is."

"Well that's your problem," Nate explained. "I don't know about you, but just fine isn't good enough for me. You've got freaks Ethan, but what you don't have is someone with skills. I bet you'll be signing me up as co-manager as soon as you see what my girl Clara can do."

Parker gave Nate a nervous glance at all the hype he was giving her.

Ethan, however, seemed more interested after hearing this and was willing to take Nate up with his bet. "Alright then, what is it that you do Clara?"

"Ahhh, acrobatics." Parker answered a little awkwardly, having not been asked to speak through the entire conversation.

"Just give her something to do," Nate added. "Anything at all. She can do it."

_"Don't push it Nate," Sophie advised._

_"Yeah man," Eliot came in, "Parker is good, but if he asks her to fly, I don't think she can do it."_

"Fine," Ethan responded, "lets make this try-out official." He got out his cell phone to call someone, "Hey, bring all that gymnastic, trapeze stuff we have stored in the back to the main tent. Yes now, and hurry!"

Sophie, Hardison, and Eliot were getting a little worried as they watched the stunt course for Parker being put up. They all knew Parker could rappel off a roof, crawl through an air duct, and maneuver through laser security, but that was not what she was being asked to do now.

However, they soon realized once a mischievous smile appeared on Parker's face, that this was just a giant playhouse to her.

She easily preformed impressive flips through the course of mats and trampolines, jumped through hoops both aflame and not, flew through the air on the trapeze rig with no safety net, and skillfully walked across the tightrope while performing front and back flips.

The whole scene ended obviously, with Nate shaking hands with Ethan and the signing of contracts.

When Nate and Parker came back from the carnival and entered the hotel suite, the smell of Eliot's cooking greeted them.

"Smells great," Nate remarked, clearly very hungry.

"Parker, why do you have that?" Sophie inquired after seeing Parker walk into the room with a unicycle in hand.

"I have to learn how to ride it," Parker said, appearing excited about the homework assignment she had been given.

"You're not practicing in here," Hardison announced. "I'm paying for this suite and I don't want anything else broken. Eliot already decapitated the coffee machine."

"I told you man, it was broken before I did that." Eliot explained in frustration.

"Well they ain't gunna be able to fix it now!" Hardison countered.

* * *

Author's Note: This chapter didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, but it'll have to do. I'm way too excited about the upcoming leverage episode to think clearly. I can just feel it's going to be one of my favorites.


	7. Chapter 7

**The Carnival Job - Chapter 7**

Eliot awoke early in the morning as he usually did, having conditioned himself to only need a couple hours of sleep. He looked to check the time and saw that it was three o'clock. Usually he would have just pulled out a book to read until the others woke up, but this morning his taste buds called out for a very distinctive flavor.

Eliot remembered back on the lemon meringue pie the team had ordered from room service for dessert. It turned out to be the most mouth-watering and delicious pie any of them had ever tasted. There was a big controversy over who would get the last slice. He eventually won it, using the argument that he was more deserving because he cooked dinner.

Having been full at the time, Eliot had put the piece of pie on a glass plate and in the fridge for safe keepings. Now awake and hungry, Eliot couldn't resist the temptation. He got out of bed and headed to the kitchen.

The suite had four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen that was connected to the living room area. Eliot had taken the rightmost bedroom, Hardison decided to take the living room couch that turned into a pullout bed because he didn't want to be separated from his computer station, and Nate, Parker, and Sophie had taken the bedrooms to the left.

Walking out of his room, Eliot saw that Hardison was still up and playing some sort of computer game in the dark.

"You're going to go blind staring at that screen in the dark," Eliot remarked.

Hardison jumped a little at realizing Eliot's presence, but was too preoccupied with his game to look at Eliot when giving his response. "Yeah well, you're going to go blind punching so many people."

"That doesn't make any sense," Eliot replied.

"You don't make any sense," Hardison countered.

Eliot just sighed and rolled his eyes, realizing the conversation wasn't going anywhere. He headed towards the refrigerator and opened it, ready to again have a taste of that glorious pie. But to his unfortunate surprise, he saw that his pie was gone. Plate and all, completely and utterly gone. Rage began to swell up inside him. Someone was going to pay.

"Damnit, Hardison! Did you eat my pie?" Eliot shouted.

Hardison looked very taken aback and intimidated by Eliot's anger. "N-Nah, man. I've been playing my game all night, I swear."

Eliot didn't fully trust Hardison, but he figured there was a chance he was telling the truth. Everyone had equally enjoyed the pie, so that meant everyone in the suite had a motive to steal his last slice.

Eliot then noticed an empty glass of water sitting on the counter that was definitely not there before he had gone to bed.

"Whose glass of water is this?" Eliot asked Hardison.

"It's Sophie's," Hardison answered. "She came out about a hour ago to have a drink. Hey man, you should ask her. I bet she ate your pie."

Eliot took Hardison's advice and walked towards the hallway that led to the other three bedrooms. He was surprised to find at this early hour light glowing from behind both Sophie's and Parker's closed doors. He went and knocked on Sophie's door and she answered it fairly quickly.

"Hello Eliot," Sophie said warily, not expecting a visitor at three in the morning. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," Eliot replied, trying to play cool. "I just woke up and was kind of hungry, so I went to the fridge. But the weird thing is, there wasn't a lemon meringue pie in there waiting for me." Eliot gave Sophie an inquisitive stare after saying this.

"W-Well I didn't eat it," Sophie said defensively.

"Hardison said you were in the kitchen earlier," Eliot responded.

"Yeah," Sophie answered, "I was thirsty. Is that a crime?"

"You're usually not up at this hour. What have you been doing in your room?" Eliot continued to question.

"I've just been reading some of my fashion magazines. I couldn't fall back asleep after being woken up by the sound of something breaking in Parker's room. If you ask me, she's the one you should be interrogating."

Eliot did agree that the sound Sophie heard from Parker's room was suspicious, so he left Sophie to her magazines and headed to Parker's door. He knocked, but nobody answered. The door turned out to be unlocked so he let himself in.

As he walked in the room, Eliot saw a lamp shade on the bed and some broken glass on the floor. This would have usually been the weirdest thing about the room, but it was outdone by the fact that Parker was nowhere to be found.

Eliot went to get a closer look at the broken glass, thinking it might be from the plate his pie was on, but he was stopped short when he unknowingly stepped in some sticky white substance on the ground.

"What the-" was all Eliot was able to say as he observed the paste-like liquid now stuck to the bottom of his foot.

"Eliot," a voice whispered loudly in his ear, causing him to jump. He turned around quickly to find Parker standing right behind him, she had apparently been hiding behind the open door so he couldn't see her.

"Please don't tell Hardison," Parker said in a desperate tone. Eliot looked down at her hands to find that she was holding half of a broken glass lamp that was very poorly glued together. "He told me not to practice my unicycle here, but I was bored, and then I fell and broke this," Parker tried to explain.

Eliot just rubbed his eyes, disappointed that the glass on the floor wasn't from his pie plate, but also glad that what he had stepped in was only glue.

"I won't tell anyone Parker," Eliot replied. "Where did you get all the glue anyways?"

"From a store two blocks down the road," Parker answered.

"It was open this late?" Eliot questioned.

"No," Parker replied guiltily, "don't tell Nate."

"Whatever," Eliot sighed. He could at least cross Parker off the possible pie thief list. She was too busy trying to fix her own problems the entire night.

"Hey Eliot," Hardison called from outside Parker's room.

Eliot walked out into the hallway to meet with Hardison and saw that Sophie had decided to join the pie search party as well. It seemed Parker had also followed him into the hallway out of sheer curiosity.

"What is it?" Eliot asked.

"I forgot to tell you something about your stolen pie," Hardison replied.

"Your pie was stolen!" Parker interrupted in a surprised voice. "Was anything else taken?"

"It wasn't a burglar Parker," Eliot growled. "It was someone on this team."

"O," Parker responded, sounding strangely disappointed, "well if it turns out it was a burglar, he also got in my room and broke that expensive looking lamp."

"What?" Hardison said in a shocked tone.

"Can we please stay focused," Eliot announced in frustration. "Now what was it you were going to tell me Hardison?"

"Right, ahhhh, I forgot the tell you that Nate was also in the kitchen last night." Hardison said this in an oddly nervous manner.

"That would make sense," Sophie came in, "Nate seems to always sleep better with a full stomach."

"Alright then," Eliot replied and walked up to Nate's room, the other three following close behind him.

There was no light coming from under Nate's door, so Eliot was not surprised when there wasn't a response to his knock. Eliot and the rest of the search party decided to let themselves in and they all crowded around Nate's bed as he slept.

"Nate," Eliot said loud enough to wake him.

Nate woke up in a groggy manner, looking around confused after seeing everyone standing around his bed.

"Am I the only one who sleeps on this team," Nate complained, but then his face turned into concern. "Did something happen with the con?"

"No, nothing has happened," Eliot responded.

"Did you steal Eliot's pie?" Parker blurted out, unable to wait through the small talk.

Nate's expression turned back into confusion. "What? No," Nate answered, "I've been asleep the whole night like a normal person."

"Then what's that pie plate doing on your night stand?" Sophie asked while pointing to the criminal evidence.

"Huh?" was all Nate said, seeming equally shocked as everyone else at the plate's presence.

"I can't believe you stole Eliot's pie," Parker remarked. She sounded disappointed, and Eliot couldn't figure out if it was because she thought Nate had stolen something or because he had been caught so easily.

"That is not mine," Nate said in his defense. "I don't know how it got there."

For some reason Eliot believed him, and then he realized a crucial flaw in the whole crime scene.

"Nate didn't eat my last slice of pie," Eliot announced to the room.

"What are you talking about man," Hardison said, sounding frustrated. "We caught him red handed."

"Well there's one problem," Eliot began, "how is he supposed to eat a piece of pie without a fork?"

The whole room became silent after Eliot's astute deduction.

"So," Eliot continued, "that leaves us with the question: who tried to frame Nate?"

After saying this, looks of suspicion were shared from all around the room.

"Well what was all that ruckus in Parker's room," Sophie spoke up. "If you ask me, she's the prime suspect."

"You seem quick to pass the blame Sophie," Eliot replied. "Very suspicious since I've already ruled out Parker as pie thief."

"Hey," Parker whined, not wanting to be ruled out from the suspense of the mystery, "I could have stolen the pie." Eliot just gave her an annoyed glare.

"Yeah Sophie," Hardison came in, "what were you doing in the kitchen?"

"I was just getting a glass of water," Sophie said in exasperation, tired of her innocence being questioned because of having been thirsty.

As Sophie and Hardison bickered, Eliot went over in his head all that had happened since he had woken up this morning.

"Hardison," Eliot eventually said, realizing something he had overlooked before, "you were the first one to pass the blame onto Sophie, and you were also the one to claim Nate visited the kitchen sometime in the night."

"So," Hardison responded, "that doesn't prove anything."

"Nate," Eliot began, "did you enter the kitchen at any time during the night?"

"No, I did not." Nate replied, seeing what Eliot was getting at.

"So why would you have told me that lie Hardison," Eliot continued, "unless you had somehow already known that evidence was planted in Nate's room."

Hardison stood like a deer in the headlights when everyone gave him inquisitive looks in response to Eliot's revelation. When Hardison didn't reply, Eliot aggressively cracked his knuckles.

"Alright, alright!" Hardison said in defeat. "I ate your damn pie."

"I knew it," Eliot announced victoriously, "I should have gone with my gut from the beginning."

"But you don't understand man," Hardison tried to explain, "I was doing some hard-core gaming and that stuff makes you hungry. I couldn't resist."

"Yeah well, because of your sweet tooth and making me solve this ridiculous mystery at three in the morning, you now owe me free pies for life." Eliot replied.

"What?" Hardison complained.

"Sounds fair to me," Sophie remarked with Nate and Parker both nodding their heads in agreement.

"Okay," Nate spoke up, wanting to go back to sleep, "since the situation has been resolved, how about you all leave my room, try practicing the sleeping habits of normal humans, and that way we might all just be prepared for the work that will need to be done in, lets say... five hours."

* * *

Author's Note: I think almost everyone has had the experience of food gone missing, so I thought it might be fun to transform it into a mini leverage whodunit mystery. It's a little longer than most of my chapters and has no plot advancement, but I hope you enjoy.


	8. Chapter 8

**The Carnival Job – Chapter 8**

Sophie straightened her formal attire as she got out of the car. Eliot was dropping her off in front of Governor McKenzie's office alone because Nate had assigned him the task of doing some more background investigation on the carnival.

"Good luck Sophie," Eliot said as a farewell before driving off.

Sophie strode confidently up to the Governor's office and with a quick nod to the secretary, let herself in.

"Rebecca Conwell," McKenzie greeted her in excitement, "I have to say I've been anxiously anticipating your visit."

"I would hope so," Sophie replied, "I'm the person about to give you a second term. Shall we get started?"

"Yes, of course," McKenzie said eagerly while motioning towards a chair and trying to clear some of the clutter off her desk. "Will your assistant not be joining us today?"

"No, Donald will not be joining us," Sophie answered. "He's busy preparing for your successful reelection at this very moment."

McKenzie seemed pleasantly surprised at this explanation. "So what exactly is this miraculous plan you have for my reelection?"

Sophie smiled at the question. "I'm not a miracle worker Governor McKenzie; I'm just a woman who knows how to give the masses what they want."

"And what's that?" McKenzie remarked. "Lower taxes? Rebecca, our state deficit is already high enough without-"

"Please, governor," Sophie interrupted, "why don't you let me finish."

After the governor relaxed back into her chair and appeared to have calmed her nerves, Sophie continued. "The people may say they want lower taxes or more government benefits, but that's not what they really want. All the people really want is a good story, Governor McKenzie. Something they can feel passionate about, something they can care about, something that will give them a sense of accomplishment when it's done."

McKenzie seemed a little skeptical. "What do you mean by a good story? Like I said yesterday, there's no way I can pass memorable policy in such a short amount of time."

"And that's the beauty of it," Sophie replied confidently, "your policy doesn't have to be a drastic and memorable change for the better. It's actually better if it's small and affects as little people as possible. All it has to do, Governor, is make a good story."

"Fine," McKenzie sighed, "I'll go along with this philosophy of yours. So will you tell me your plan or what?"

"It's simple," Sophie replied, "just do as I say. I'm going to run this reelection just like I did in Missouri. And for the first step in my plan, I need you and some on your little workers to get together and start forming a bill that outlaws the exploitation of people in side shows."

McKenzie appeared confused. "Side shows? How is a little bill like that going to form good publicity? Are there even side shows in Arkansas?"

"Who knows and who cares," Sophie stated in an impatient tone. "People are suckers for helping deformed babies whether there are any or not. You are risking nothing, but being able to gain a whole lot by following my instructions. Trust me, this will work."

McKenzie seemed persuaded. "Alright, I'll get started on the makings of the bill tonight. Should I inform the media?"

"No," Sophie responded quickly. "The people like a leader who is admirable and humble. Just do as I say, and leave the rest to me. Everything will work out perfectly."

Sophie then put on a fake smile while remembering all of the past cons that had gone wildly astray. She shook the governor's hand and left in confidence at the magnificence of her grifting. As usual, Sophie had finished early with her job for the day and decided to relax at a nearby coffee shop until Eliot arrived. Eliot was unusually late though in picking her up, and when Sophie got in the car, she saw that he was in a bad mood.

_"How did things go?" Nate asked, breaking the tense silence on the drive back to headquarters._

"Good," Sophie relied first, seeing as Eliot wasn't in the talking mood. "Governor is going to start working on the bill tonight."

_"How about you, Eliot?" Silence proceeded Nate's question. "Come on Eliot, David's list of others who had family commit suicide, did you learn anything from them?"_

"No," Eliot eventually replied in an angry tone.

_"No?" Nate responded a bit surprised._

"You heard me right," Eliot grumbled, but then decided to explain himself, "not a single one of them would let me into their house so I could ask a few questions."

_"If you needed to get into a house you should have tried a back window," Parker spoke up, "they're usually unlocked."_

"People aren't willing to answer your questions after you break an entering Parker," Eliot growled in annoyance.

_"Well they weren't willing to talk to you the other way, so at least you would have accomplished half of your goal," Parker responded using her unique form of reasoning._

"The whole damn goal was to have them talk to me, Parker." Eliot's frustration was rising after every spoken word. "There's no reason to-"

_"Did they show any reason for not wanting to talk to you?" Nate interjected quickly, wanting to move on before Parker pushed Eliot's tempter too far._

"Yeah they did," Eliot began, calming down a bit, "they seemed real anxious and nervous the whole time; almost like they were scared."

_"Well were you being friendly when introducing yourself?" Hardison came in, "you know sometimes you can come off as-"_

"Damnit Hardison, I know how to be friendly!" Eliot shouted, his anger from before resurfacing.

_"This is what I'm talking about," Hardison retorted. "Shoot, I'd be scared if you came knocking at my door."_

_"Alright, alright, that's enough," Nate came in, trying to again take control of the conversation. "We got the Governor on the right track and Eliot did all he could. This strange behavior just reaffirms that there is something dirty going on with this carnival. Once Sophie and Eliot get back to headquarters, Parker and I will head out and try to do some more digging."_

* * *

Author's Note: I know, it has been a long time. I do plan to finish this story and I have it all planned out in my head, but it is going to take a while. I have a lot of more important things to do, so I can only really work on this story during my vacation time. Hopefully I will be able to turn out a decent amount to chapters before I have to get back to work. 


End file.
